5 Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled in 2017 and 5 More Expected in 2018

The year 2017 was packed with what many describe as “remarkable” or “unprecedented” events. Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration and his latest announcement that he sees Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people are considered by believers to be prophetic signs that the world is coming ever closer to the Messianic area.

Breaking Israel News looks back on these prophetic moments and suggests five further prophecies that could be fulfilled in 2018.

5 Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled in 2017

The ICEJ Parade of Nations during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, October 10, 2017. (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz/Breaking Israel News)

1. Jerusalem As A Place Of AssemblyFor Non-Jews

“All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow to the King Lord of Hosts and to observe Sukkot” (Zechariah 14:16).

In 2017, Jerusalem became a place of assembly, a House of Prayer for all Nations, Jews and non-Jews alike, precisely as prophesied in Zechariah. Tourism to Jerusalem skyrocketed, with arrivals climbing by 25 percent compared to the 2016, and bringing in $5.8 billion of revenue. Such assembly was particularly evident during the Jewish holiday ofSukkot, when tens of thousands of Christian tourists arrived to Jerusalem. According toRabbi Tuly Weisz, fulfilling the prophetic vision for how Sukkot will be observed in the end of days, non-Jewish participation in the “Feast of the Tabernacles” played a significant role in bringing Jews closer to celebrating Sukkot the way it is described in the books of the prophet, and as it will be celebrated in the end of times.

Illustrative: a total solar eclipse. (Shutterstock)

2. Eclipse Signifies Storms and Trouble For “King of the East”

“Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure. Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12).

Rabbi Berger went on to explain that in Jewish mysticism, the moon represents the Jewish people and the sun represents the non-Jews. Thus, Rabbi Bergerviewed the solar eclipse as a prophecy that Israel will be renewed and will come back from galut (exile) to rise again.

US President Donald Trump prays at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. (Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90)

3. Trump Visits Western Wall

“Thus said Hashem to Cyrus, His anointed one— Whose right hand He has grasped, treading down nations before him, ungirding the loins of kings, opening doors before him and letting no gate stay shut” (Isaiah 45:1).

The world went into a turmoil when US President Donald Trump became the first sitting American president to visit the Kotel (Western Wall), raising the hopes of the Jewish people that a Second Temple reenactment may yet be seen in this generation. President Trump’s unwavering support for Jewish national aspirationslinked him to Persian King Cyrus, whose connection to the Messiah is found in the Book of Isaiah. Much like Cyrus, Trump rules the greatest nation of the era and Cyrus, like Trump, was powerful and rich, but secular. Esoteric Gematria (numerology) hints identified the new president as having a role in the Messiah and his actions were clearly a step in that direction.Using the method to break down the value of Hebrew letters, Donald Trump’s name in Hebrew is also the numerical equivalent of “moshiach for the House of David.” Although no one has made the claim that Trump is moshiach (messiah), many believe that he is indeed helping the Jews to settle Israel and start building the Third Temple.

Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, September 2011. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

4. UN Jerusalem Vote

“Behold, I will make Yerushalayim a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Yehuda shall be caught up in the siege upon Yerushalayim” (Zechariah 12:2).

In the final weeks of the 2017, countless countries in the United Nations voted against President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the home of the future American embassy. Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf, an award-winning author and teacher for Yeshiva for the Nations, saw the UN vote, which sought to isolate Jerusalem from the world, asproof that the Third Temple will rise again. While the vote was an attempt by Israel’s enemies to “put Jerusalem under siege” and “isolate the city,” similar to what occurred with the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the Babylonian Exile, Rabbi Apisdorf told Breaking Israel News, “The seeds of Messiah were hidden, planted in the destruction of the Temple.” Likewise, he said, “This seems like a blow to Israel, but what is really happening is that the world is focused on the relationship of the Jewish people to Jerusalem, and only good things can come out of that.”

An orthodox Jewish family from Yemen arrive in Israel to make Aliyah, at Ben Gurion International Airport. (Photo: Moshik Brin /The Jewish Agency /Flash90)

Ingathering of Exiles

“They shall know that I Hashem am their God when, having exiled them among the nations, I gather them back into their land and leave none of them behind” (Ezekiel 39:28).

The year 2017 was a powerful year for immigration to Israel. As prophesied in the Bible, exile were returning to the land God promised to Abraham. Population statistics showed an increase of immigration with 28,400 immigrants making aliyah to Israel in 2017. New olim included Jews from four corners of the earth:1,200 Ethiopian Jews,Bnei Menashe,Ukrainian Jews,Indian Jews,French Jews, American Jews, and many more.

5 Prophecies We Expect To See in 2018

The US Embassy in Tel Aviv. (Kobi Richter/TPS)

1. Moving the US Embassy

“I am the Lord, who called you with righteousness, I will strengthen your hand; I will protect you; I will set you for a covenant to the people, to be a light unto the nations; to open blind eyes; to remove a prisoner from confinement, dwellers in darkness from a dungeon” (Isaiah 42:6).

In the new age of Jewish-Christian relations, Israel is finally taking its prophesied role as a light unto the nations. This will materialize fully when US President Trump will fulfill his promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. A major platform in his presidential campaign, this promise came about as a result of strong Evangelical Christianpressure on Trump to fulfill his campaign promises. This growing link between the Jewish People and the Christians is an unexpected development, flying in the face of a millennium of difficult relations, and unmistakably moving towards the post-Messiah age of peace and brotherhood. Given this new age of relations, unprecedented developments are surely in store.

(Shutterstock)

2. Sunni-Shia Divides

“He shall be a wild ass of a man; His hand against everyone, And everyone’s hand against him; He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen” (Genesis 16:12).

An 800-year oldprophecy in the ancient holy book of Yalkut Shimoni declares that when the King of Persia (Iran) will provoke the King of Arabia (Saudi Arabia), redemption is around the corner. As the descendants of Ishmael, war dominates the relations between brethren in the Arab world. Iran and Saudi Arabia have not seen peace for decades and this past year demonstrated an even greater struggle for regional dominance rooted in the Sunni-Shia divide. A prophecy in the Yalkut Shimoni, a collection of Biblical teachings believed to have been arranged in the 13th century, connects the political tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia with the full redemption of the Jewish people. As the redemption nears, this political tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia will only grow.

“Rabbi Yizchok said: ‘The year that Melech HaMoshiach [Messiah the King] will be revealed, all the nations of the world will be provoking each other. The King of Persia (Iran) will provoke the King of Arabia, and the King of Arabia will go to Edom (the West) to take counsel, but the King of Persia will in turn, destroy the entire world. The nations of the world will be outraged and panicked. They will fall on their faces, and they will experience pains like birth pangs. Israel too will be outraged and in a state of panic and ask, where do we go? But say unto them, “My children, do not fear, ‘Higiyah zman geulatchem’ [the time of your redemption has come]. And in the last redemption will be different from the first which was followed by further bondage and pain. After this last redemption, you will not again experience any further pain or subjugation.”

(Shutterstock)

3.The North Korean Threat

“They have roused Me to jealousy with a no-god; they have provoked Me with their vanities; and I will rouse them to jealousy with a no-people; I will provoke them with a vile nation. For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world (She’ol), and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains” (Deuteronomy 32:22).

Years before North Korea was known to have nuclear weapons, a noted Israeli kabbalist (mystic) predicted that North Korea would become the nuclear key to the final war in the redemptive process. Rabbi Levi Sa’adia Nachmani, who correctly predicted the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, discounted all of Israel’s greatest enemies when he said, “Not Syria, not Persia (Iran), and not Babylon (Iraq), and not Gaddafi (Libya).” Instead, Rabbi Nachmani named an unknown entity as the greatest threat: “Korea will arrive here,” he said.

He based this prediction on the word ‘She’ol,’ which is the Hebrew word for hell, which is spelled the same as the Hebrew word for Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Indeed, as North Korea has increased its weapons testing and missile program, its intentions and capabilities are clear. A nuclear war could very well begin with North Korea attacking Seoul, expanding until it becomes the final war in the end of days.

Written here in Hebrew is “King David”. The walls of the Old City of Jerusalem were lit up in honor of the occasion, welcoming the special Torah for the Messiah commissioned by Rabbi Yosef Berger. (Photo: David’s Tomb/Rabbi Yosef Berger)

According to genealogical records, there are indeed descendants of King David alive today. According to the prophecy, only direct descendants of King David are suitable to re-establish the Davidic Dynasty required for moshiach.

Mitchell Dayan, who traces his lineage back 87 generations to King David, told Breaking Israel News, “The actual descendants may not know it, but there are descendants of King David alive today. This was prophesied in the Bible but it is also fact. Politics are irrelevant. It is going to happen, one day or another.”

He continued, “The Moshiach is already here. Moshiach in Hebrew means ‘anointed.’ It is not a miracle. The family of David exists and is waiting for Israel to choose one and anoint him.”

A model of the second Holy Temple (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

5.Building of the Third Temple

“Thus saith Koresh king of Paras: All the kingdoms of the earth hath Hashem, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Yerushalayim, which is in Yehuda” ( Ezra 1:2).

In a late-night surprise visit to the Western Wall several years ago, Russian President Vladmir Putin expressed his desire for the third Temple to be built. According to Chadrei Charedim, an Orthodox Hebrew news site, Putin said that the reason he came to the Temple Mount during his visit was, “to pray for the Temple to be built again.” This desire, coupled with a US President who is supportive of Israel, could create the political conditions for large-scale support for the Jewish right to Jerusalem as their spiritual inheritance.

The Sanhedrin sent a letter to Putin and Trump, reminding them of the Biblically mandated role for non-Jewish kings to build the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The conflict in the halls of the UN will hopefully lead more world leaders to take an active role in rebuilding the Temple.

About the Author

Eliana Rudee is a reporter for Breaking Israel News and a freelance writer based in Jerusalem. Eliana studied politics, International Relations, and Jewish Studies and has since focused her interests on topics related to global Jewish life, American Jewry, counter-terrrorism, Israeli entrepreneurship and innovation, Israeli culture, and minority rights in Israel. Among many other news outlets and blogs, her bylines have been featured in Forbes, USA Today, New York Daily News, the Culture Trip, and The Hill.